Precarious Migrants in a Sharing Economy| #Nosomosdesertores: Activism and Narratives of the Cuban Diaspora on Twitter

Abstract

This article analyzes how Cuban migrants use social media to produce and share narratives that solicit and negotiate rights related to Cuban migration policies. In the context of a reordering of relations between the Cuban state and its diaspora, we focus on activism of the collective “No Somos Desertores” (We Are Not Deserters) on Twitter. This group strives to give visibility to and denounce the banishment of Cuban professionals who abandoned international collaboration missions coordinated by the Cuban government, and to influence migratory policies that restrict the right to mobility of these professionals. The results reveal three narrative dimensions of the collective’s activism for migratory rights: (1) national belonging and the right to mobility, (2) the family consequences of their banishment, and (3) proposals to address Cuban migratory issues.